Fun in the park

The weather today was gorgeous, so I decided to ignore everything that had to get done at home, and just enjoy some quality time w/ the kids in the park.  We all had a blast- and I managed to get some nice pictures too!
(Yisrael didn't join us, he was busy in Cheder)

Video: Cutie Babies say Hello

I heard some cute babbling coming from the next room, and BH I was able to catch it on film.  Esther stopped as soon as she saw her Mommy but Yaakov Tzvi cooperated nicely :)
Aren't they precious?

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Knocked Out!

Hillel does this almost every night by supper...and a few times YL has imitated him (which is QUITE hysterical, but we weren't able to catch it on video).  But this time, it was for real....we all had a good laugh (not to mention that bedtime was much easier that night)!

Happy Sukkos!

Since we had no major plans for today (or any other day of Chol Hamoed!) we decided to do an easy activity that would accomplish two purposes- keep the kids busy, and provide a snack so they don't keep complaining that they are hungry!

BH cookie baking accomplished both criteria- and the kids were all very excited with how their creations came out!

Wishing you all a beautiful, simcha-dik Chag!

Purim 5775

Purim was very busy around here- the kids were busy all day, delivering Mishloach Manos to their friends, so I barely had a chance to snap pictures of them before running out to our Seuda. But B"H we did manage to get a picture of each of them (although not the most picture-perfect shots).

Yisrael was a scuba diver- and got tons of compliments on his costume wherever he went. It was a refreshing change from the typical police/solider/cowboy type costumes that most boys dress up as- and I won't be surprised if we see more of them next year!

Bruria was a nurse- with a REAL nurse "scrub" that we borrowed from a friend of mine who's a nurse in Hadassah. She had pockets full of bandaids, syringes, and even a real stethoscope!

Azriel was an old man- he was really quite cute. The babies and Nissim had fun walking around with his cane making "oy" noises- so adorable!

Naftali was a Kohein Gadol. He was especially excited about the costume because we just learned about the בגדי כהונה in the Parsha, and it was nice to actually experience it (although he made sure to point out all the inaccuracies!)

Nissim was a cute little king- he did not want any costume that did not involve Shabbos clothes so B"H this one was agreeable to him.

Our twins were chocolate and vanilla pudding (באדי brand) - since they were babies, I've been getting comments from people, "You have one chocolate flavor, and one vanilla" so I decided to make a costume out of that this year- and they were absolutely adorable!- and their costume was absolutely adorable. They weren't in the mood for a whole picture session so I couldn't get a good shot of them together, but you get the basic idea...

Nachas from Bruria

I apologize to those of you who have already heard this, but one nachas recipient wisely suggested that I post this on my blog.  And while one reason I blog is to inform my readers about all the goings-on in our family, another very important reason I do it is to document and keep track of all the anecdotes that we will look back on in years to come and say "Oohh...so cute/sweet/special/creative/fill-in-the blank".  I already do enjoy reading old posts from a few years ago, and looking back at when my kids were "Yunger" :)

Last night I called Bruria's teacher, Morah Miri Rosengarten (here they call teachers by their first name...wierd, I know) to touch base and see how Bruria's doing this year (Parent/Teacher conferences are tomorrow but I can't go).  B"H I got such a fabulous nachas report!  Her Morah kept going on and on how Bruria is a "יהלום" and "תלמיד חכם של הכיתה" - it was so nice to hear how she always knows all the answers and yet isn't a "סנובית" (snob) and gets along well with all her classmates!

May we always get such glowing reports from all our children's teachers, and may Bruria continue to go מחיל אל חיל and bring nachas to us all!

My Big Helpers

As opposed to my "little helpers", B"H my bigger boys are really starting to help more.  The past few weeks, they've spent Thursday evening helping me prepare the Shabbos food- sifting flour, peeling potatoes, mixing up kugels, seasoning the fish, and pouring the cake ingredients into the mixing bowl.  They really enjoyed themselves, and while the kitchen was a bit messier than usual after we finished, I did manage to get a lot more done than I would have on my own!